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During a meeting and conference call among representatives from the company, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the media and public on Wednesday, PPL Strategic Development Vice President Jeremy McGuire, who will become chief financial officer of Talen Energy, said PPL Corp. will have no interest in the new company when the transaction is complete. Talen Energy will have its own managers, board of directors and shareholders. PPL shareholders will own 65 percent of the new company, and Riverstone shareholders 35 percent, he said.

There was no advance notice of the merger given to Allegheny Electric Cooperative Inc., a 10 percent co-owner of the Salem Township nuclear power plant. Scott Strauss, attorney for Allegheny Electric, revealed that prior to the announcement of the deal on June 10, “we were not advised of or part of discussions leading up to it.” Strauss said the plant is a “very important piece of Allegheny’s power supply.”

Allegheny Electric’s General Counsel David Dulick said the cooperative generates and transmits power to sell to its 13 members in Pennsylvania — including in Bradford, Sullivan and Wyoming counties — and one in New Jersey. The Susquehanna Steam plant provides Allegheny Electric with about 60 percent of its total power needs.

“We found it disturbing that they did not talk to us,” Dulick said of PPL.

Since Allegheny Electric will retain its 10 percent ownership of the PPL Susquehanna plant but knows very little about Talen, Dulick and Strauss said the company will put together a list of questions for PPL. The PPL representatives agreed to share more information with Allegheny Electric.

In order for the deal to take place, approvals from several state and federal agencies — the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Department of Justice, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and, in particular, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission — must be obtained.

A key issue is that the license to operate the facility will have to be transferred over to Talen Energy. NRC Financial Analyst Michael Dusaniwski said the agency does a review to determine whether the new owner has the funds and technical capabilities to safely operate the plant and decommission it when it is time to do so.

He said the NRC is “not here to try to protect stockholders” or determine whether the new company will be profitable.

“The review does not try to determine whether this is a good plan from a business standpoint, but whether safety can be maintained,” Dusaniwski said.

McGuire said PPL plans to send in the application July 11, and is requesting the NRC approve it by Dec. 31 — within six months. The NRC isn’t likely to meet that deadline — Agency Spokesman Neil Sheehan said license transfer requests typically take around a year.

“It’s also worth noting that this review could be more complex in nature due to the fact that it involves a spin-off and not simply a plant changing hands from one existing company to another,” he stated. “We’ll know more once we actually have the request in hand.”

Dulick said Allegheny Energy wants to review the NRC license transfer application “because we’re very concerned” about how Talen will operate the Susquehanna Steam plant.

Strauss believes $115 million in cost-cutting measures, including staff cuts, announced by PPL will not affect the facility. Allegheny Electric intends to seek information about the details to make sure that is the case.

PPL’s Chief Nuclear Officer Tim Rausch said there would be no change in staff or station procedures, plans or operations, and no physical changes to the facility, except toward the goal of improving station performance.

Something else that will stay the same when the power plant changes hands is the level of NRC oversight.

Since the Unit 2 reactor experienced four unplanned shutdowns between November 2012 and September 2013, it has been under increased scrutiny by the federal agency, placing it in the “degraded cornerstone” category with only five other of the nation’s 102 nuclear reactors.

PPL has been working to correct the problems, and Unit 2 could go back to normal NRC oversight if it passes a thorough inspection, which will likely take place this summer.

Although both PPL and Riverstone have different types of power generating facilities they will combine in the new company, Susquehanna Steam is the only nuclear plant involved.

McGuire considers the different types of fuels, technologies and markets an asset for the new company, which he said would be the nation’s third largest independent power producer. And the Susquehanna Steam plant would be an example of a “very, very valuable asset,” he said.

As a result, safety and plant performance will be first and foremost, he said.

“Those aren’t just platitudes; we take that very seriously,” said McGuire, who mentioned that he personally takes it seriously because his father and older brother worked in a nuclear power plant.

“You can’t build value if you’re not running your plants well.”

eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

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